If your body is already stressed from lack of sleep, why are you stressing it more by trying to train in a sleep deprived state? Training is about cycles of athletic stress followed by recovery when super compensation occurs (fitness gains). All types of stress can have a negative impact on training progress, but trying to train through sleep deprivation is one of the worst. An elevated HR or suppressed HR response to exercise is often our body's way of telling us this. ETA - I realized I didn't answer your question - No. If you need rest, the solution is rest. Instead of asking how to compensate for not sleeping, you should be looking at ways to either prioritize adequate sleep, or plan complete rest days after those nights.

jdl2012 - 2013-04-13 2:00 PMWhen I get no sleep the night before, my pulse shoots up with little effort, ie just standing 100bpm vs 75bpm(with good sleep). This really affects how hard I can push, if it all. Is there anything that helps with this after the fact? thx

jdl2012 - 2013-04-13 2:23 PM I should add, the stress from a race the next day may keep me up all night. I usually back off of training do to lack of sleep. But a race... ?

This why it is so important to try to bank some additional rest several days before a race. Takes some of the pressure off of worrying about sleep the night before.

During training, sleep is one of the most important things you can do to recover and set yourself up for consistently strong efforts. I have been busy at work this week and the stress has kept me up the last few nights. I had a horrible run earlier today that I think was a direct result of sleep depravation. I was happy to see this thread as it helped me put two and two together. Now I'm not so bummed about my run as I think I understand what happened.

jdl2012 - 2013-04-13 5:23 PMI should add, the stress from a race the next day may keep me up all night. I usually back off of training do to lack of sleep. But a race... ?

This is why it's so important to get good nights of sleep in the week before a race, and especially 2 nights before (i.e. Friday night for a Sunday race). Many people have trouble sleeping the night before a race, but if your nerves are so bad that you don't sleep at all, you should probably consider spending more time training the psychological aspects of racing to help keep the nerves manageable.

jdl2012 - 2013-04-13 5:57 PM People write books on dealing with stress. Cultures have put together means to dealing with stress. It's tough to deal with, period. My best 1/2 marathon run was after I just completed a big project at work and felt a weight had been lifted. Most other times I am in the middle of projects consuming me big time. Then add the stress of a race, kids...etc... Some people have the ability to block everything out, I wish I was one of them.

Yes, it is very tough to deal with. More for some than others, and few people have the ability to block everything out. Most can only hope to manage it. That's why I chose the words I did.

It's necessary to understand that stress isn't the environment we are in, it's only our response to that environment. Once you accept that fact, then you can begin the hard work of getting better at managing the response.

The same thing doesn't work for everyone. You need to find what works for you. In the case of racing, a good starting point can be spending a lot of time visualizing every detail of the race. And, I mean every detail. Visualize yourself floating in the water surrounded by dozens of other people. Think about the temperature of the water and listen to your breathing. You're watching the wave in front of you swimming into the distance. Imagine you hear the sound of the starter's horn, and you begin swimming. You bump off one or two other swimmers in the first yards. You feel the water gliding smoothly over your body as you maneuver for position to draft off other racers. Feel the air moving in and out of your lungs in rhythm with your strokes as you ride the bubbles coming off the feet of the person in front of you...and on and on... through T1, the bike, T2, and the run all the way through the finish chute and across the finish line with your hands held high!

Engage in this type of visualization exercise frequently enough, and by the time race day rolls around, you are more likely to be more relaxed, because you feel like you've already done it, and you're not as nervous about race day.

If your stress is more focused on self doubts about your ability to perform, then positive self talk is another method that can be effective in reducing race stress and anxiety.

Like all the skills we use to race well, it takes time to learn how to perform in a way mentally that is supports a good race result. It definitely is not easy.

TriMyBest - 2013-04-13 5:19 PM If your body is already stressed from lack of sleep, why are you stressing it more by trying to train in a sleep deprived state? Training is about cycles of athletic stress followed by recovery when super compensation occurs (fitness gains). All types of stress can have a negative impact on training progress, but trying to train through sleep deprivation is one of the worst. An elevated HR or suppressed HR response to exercise is often our body's way of telling us this. ETA - I realized I didn't answer your question - No. If you need rest, the solution is rest. Instead of asking how to compensate for not sleeping, you should be looking at ways to either prioritize adequate sleep, or plan complete rest days after those nights.

People like me who suffers from chronic insomnia only train in a sleep deprived state. Keep in in mind. They just have no other option.

One thing that really helps is to plan your sleep routine 2 weeks before the race. Go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time no matter what day of the week it is. It's really tempting to sleep in on a weekend, but honestly, it does mess up your schedule a bit. For example, go to bed at 9pm, if you want spend 15 minutes reading a book or a magazine (would not recommend TV as that is usually too easy to get drawn into and then those 15 minutes turns into an hour and all is lost...), then lights off. Set your alarm for 6am (try to get 9 hours of sleep... I know a lot of us operate on 6-7 hours, but there's a clear correlation between performance and sleep, so more sleep helps. And there's a BIG difference between being able to function with 6-7 hours and actually being well rested after 6-7 hours...). If race nerves are keeping you up the night before the race, it's much easier to still perform well if you have had a couple of weeks of good sleep.

TriMyBest - 2013-04-13 5:19 PM If your body is already stressed from lack of sleep, why are you stressing it more by trying to train in a sleep deprived state? Training is about cycles of athletic stress followed by recovery when super compensation occurs (fitness gains). All types of stress can have a negative impact on training progress, but trying to train through sleep deprivation is one of the worst. An elevated HR or suppressed HR response to exercise is often our body's way of telling us this. ETA - I realized I didn't answer your question - No. If you need rest, the solution is rest. Instead of asking how to compensate for not sleeping, you should be looking at ways to either prioritize adequate sleep, or plan complete rest days after those nights.

People like me who suffers from chronic insomnia only train in a sleep deprived state. Keep in in mind. They just have no other option.

FWIW, I personally suffer from insomnia plus have experienced a lot of severe stress sources lately, so I do have first hand experience in dealing with these issues. It comes down to management most of the time, not eliminating the issues. Very few people are completely free of issues that act against their training and performance.

For me, the problem isn't falling asleep, it's staying asleep all night. When I'm going through a spell of insomnia, I will be exhausted in the evening, falling asleep at the dinner table, or as soon as my head hits the pillow. The problem is that after a few hours, I wake up (usually between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m), and can't go back to sleep, because my brain is racing. If I just lay there, and try to go back to sleep, I can't. I can lay there until my alarm goes off.

The best solutions I've found are to read or watch documentary-type television shows to distract my brain from whatever it is I'm fixating on. My wife bought me wireless headphones so I don't disturb her with the television in the middle of the night. These don't always work, though, so sometimes I just need to get through my day with inadequate sleep.

When it's bad enough that I feel exhausted, I adjust my training to get the rest I need. If it's less severe, but I don't feel like training, I will usually start planned training sessions anyway, and re-evaluate after 20 minutes. If I still feel like garbage, or am unable to get my HR up, I will cut off the session at that time.

My insomnia has many reasons. Of course racing thoughts are one of these reasons. I have been in therapy in the last 8 months and my insomnia is getting better. I remember times during which I slept 3-4 a night per months and still was training. I have no idea how I did it.

Anyway now on most nights I fall asleep at 11 but woke up at 5 not really rested but at least not exhausted either. 6 hours of sleep is not ideal but not bad.

What I found helpful in dealing with racing thoughts is writing them down. Thoughts concerns worries expressed in writing are released from your brain and you became more peaceful and relaxed.

It does not have to be anything fancy or gramatically correct. Just thoughts or anything that comes to your mind even if it does not make any sense.If your thoughts are racing in the middle of the night just write a few words and tell your brain that u will deal with problems in the morning.